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Yahweh’s Portion of the Land

45 “And when you (A)divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer a (B)contribution to Yahweh, a (C)holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of [a]25,000 (D)cubits, and the width shall be [b]20,000. It shall be holy within all its boundary round about. Out of this there shall be for the holy place a square round about [c](E)five hundred by five hundred cubits, and [d]fifty cubits for its [e](F)open space round about. And from this [f]area you shall measure a length of 25,000 cubits and a width of [g]10,000 cubits; and in it shall be the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies. It shall be the holy portion of the land; it shall be for the (G)priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who (H)come near to minister to Yahweh, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. And an area (I)25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width shall be for the Levites, the ministers of the house, and for their possession as [h]cities to dwell in.

“And you shall give the (J)city possession of an area [i]5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, alongside the contribution of the holy portion; it shall be for the whole house of Israel.

The Prince’s Portion of the Land

“Now the (K)prince shall have land on either side of the holy contribution and the city’s possession of land, adjacent to the holy contribution and the city’s possession of land, on the west side toward the west and on the east side toward the east, and in length comparable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border. This shall be his land for a possession in Israel; so My princes shall no longer (L)mistreat My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel (M)according to their tribes.”

‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “(N)Enough, you princes of Israel; put away (O)violence and devastation, and (P)do justice and righteousness. Stop your (Q)eviction of My people,” declares Lord Yahweh.

10 “You shall have (R)just balances, a just [j](S)ephah, and a just [k](T)bath. 11 The ephah and the bath shall be [l]the same quantity so that the bath will contain a tenth of a [m](U)homer and the ephah a tenth of a homer; [n]their standard shall be according to the homer. 12 And the [o](V)shekel shall be twenty [p](W)gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall be your [q]maneh.

13 “This is the contribution that you shall offer: a sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, a sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley, 14 and the statute for the oil (namely, the [r]bath of oil), a tenth of a bath from each [s]kor (which is ten baths or a homer, for ten baths are a homer), 15 and one sheep from each flock of two hundred from the watering places of Israel—for a (X)grain offering, for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to (Y)make atonement for them,” declares Lord Yahweh. 16 (Z)All the people of the land shall [t]give to this contribution for the (AA)prince in Israel. 17 And it shall be the (AB)prince’s part to provide the (AC)burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the drink offerings, at the (AD)feasts, on the (AE)new moons, and on the sabbaths, at all the appointed times of the house of Israel; he shall [u]provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the (AF)peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.”

18 ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “In the (AG)first month, on the first of the month, you shall take a bull from the herd (AH)without blemish and (AI)purify the sanctuary. 19 The priest shall take some of the blood from the sin offering and put it on the door posts of the house, on the (AJ)four corners of the (AK)ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court. 20 And thus you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who (AL)errs or is simpleminded; so you shall make (AM)atonement for the house.

21 “In the (AN)first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the (AO)Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22 And on that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a (AP)bull for a sin offering. 23 And during the (AQ)seven days of the feast he shall provide as a (AR)burnt offering to Yahweh (AS)seven bulls and seven rams without blemish on every day of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a sin offering. 24 And he shall provide as a (AT)grain offering an ephah [v]with a bull, an ephah [w]with a ram, and a [x]hin of oil [y]with an ephah. 25 In the (AU)seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he shall provide like this, seven days [z]for the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 45:1 Approx. 7.1 mi. long and 5.6 mi. wide or 11.25 km and 9 km
  2. Ezekiel 45:1 Or with Gr 10,000
  3. Ezekiel 45:2 Approx. 250 yd. or 225 m
  4. Ezekiel 45:2 Approx. 75 ft. or 22.5 m
  5. Ezekiel 45:2 Or pasture land
  6. Ezekiel 45:3 Lit measure
  7. Ezekiel 45:3 Approx. 2.8 mi. or 4.5 km
  8. Ezekiel 45:5 As in Gr; M.T. twenty chambers
  9. Ezekiel 45:6 Approx. 1.4 mi. or 2.25 km
  10. Ezekiel 45:10 An ephah was approx. 21 qt. or 23 l
  11. Ezekiel 45:10 A bath was approx. 6 gal. or 23 l
  12. Ezekiel 45:11 Lit one
  13. Ezekiel 45:11 A homer was approx. 6.5 bu. or 230 l
  14. Ezekiel 45:11 Lit its measure
  15. Ezekiel 45:12 A shekel was approx. 0.4 oz. or 11 gm
  16. Ezekiel 45:12 A gerah was approx. 0.025 oz. or 0.7 gm
  17. Ezekiel 45:12 Or mina
  18. Ezekiel 45:14 A bath was approx. 6 gal. or 23 l
  19. Ezekiel 45:14 A kor was approx. 6.5 bu. or 230 l
  20. Ezekiel 45:16 Lit be
  21. Ezekiel 45:17 Or offer, so in ch
  22. Ezekiel 45:24 Lit for
  23. Ezekiel 45:24 Lit for
  24. Ezekiel 45:24 A hin was approx. 1 gal. or 3.8 l
  25. Ezekiel 45:24 Lit for
  26. Ezekiel 45:25 Lit according to

Property for the Lord,
for the Priests, and for the Prince

45 When you cast lots to divide the land as an inheritance, you are to devote a contribution to the Lord, a holy area of the land. Its length is to be twenty-five thousand cubits and its width twenty thousand cubits.[a] Its entire area will be holy.

Within this area, a square five hundred by five hundred cubits[b] is to be set aside for the sanctuary. There is also to be an open area of fifty cubits all around it.

From this measured area, you are to measure off a separate area which has a length of twenty-five thousand cubits and a width of ten thousand cubits. The sanctuary, the most holy place, will be in it. It is to be a holy area of the land.[c] It will be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who draw near to serve the Lord. It will be a place for their houses, as well as a holy place for the sanctuary.

Also an area twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide will be set aside for the Levites, the servants of the temple, as their possession, to provide them with cities to live in.[d][e]

As the city’s property, you are to assign an area five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand cubits long[f] along one side of the holy contribution.[g] It will belong to the whole house of Israel.

For the prince, an area is to be set aside on both sides of the holy contribution and of the area for the city. It will run alongside the holy contribution and alongside the city’s property. On the west side of the city, it will extend west along the tribal boundaries to the western boundary of the land, and on the east side, it will extend eastward in the same way. This land is to be the prince’s property in Israel, so that my princes will no longer oppress my people but will allot the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

This is what the Lord God says. You have done enough, you princes of Israel! Remove violence and mayhem, and practice justice and righteousness. Remove the burden from my people that you caused by evicting them from their land, declares the Lord God.

10 You must have honest scales, an honest ephah, and an honest bath.[h] 11 The ephah and the bath are to follow one uniform standard. The bath will hold one tenth of a homer, and the ephah will hold one tenth of a homer. The standard is to be based on the homer. 12 The shekel is to be twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels will be the weight of your mina.[i]

Offerings and Festivals

13 This is the special contribution you should dedicate: Take one sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and take one sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley.[j] 14 The prescribed portion of oil (the bath is the standard measure for the oil) is one tenth of a bath from each kor.[k] Ten baths make a kor, and ten baths are a homer.

15 Furthermore, one sheep shall be given from every flock, that is, from every two hundred sheep that comprise a flock from the well-watered land of Israel. These are for the grain offerings, the burnt offerings, and the fellowship offerings, to make atonement for them, declares the Lord God. 16 All the people of the land are to contribute to this offering for the prince in Israel.

17 The prince then is responsible for the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the drink offerings on the festivals, on the New Moons, and on the Sabbaths, that is, on all the appointed festivals for the house of Israel. He himself will provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the fellowship offering, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.

18 This is what the Lord God says. In the first month, on the first day of the month, you are to take a young bull without blemish and purify the sanctuary. 19 The priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorpost of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the post of the gate of the inner courtyard. 20 You are to do so also on the seventh day of the month, for the sake of anyone who sins inadvertently or in ignorance, and so you shall make atonement for the temple.

21 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall hold the Passover. During the festival, consisting of a week of seven days, unleavened bread must be eaten. 22 On that day the prince is to provide, on behalf of himself and all the people of the land, a bull for a sin offering. 23 On the seven days of the festival he is to provide a burnt offering for the Lord: seven bulls and seven rams without blemish for each day of the seven days, as well as a male goat for a sin offering for each day. 24 As a grain offering he is to provide an ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, and a hin of oil for each ephah.

25 In the seventh month, at the festival starting on the fifteenth day of the month, he is to provide for seven days according to these same instructions, in regard to the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil.

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 45:1 This area is somewhat more than eight miles by six miles. A Hebrew variant says that the district is 10,000 cubits wide. The Greek text says that it is 20,000 cubits wide. Which measurement is correct depends on whether the area being measured here is the whole district for both priests and Levites or only the portion for the priests. The context seems to refer to the whole district for the clergy, which was 20,000 cubits wide.
  2. Ezekiel 45:2 About 875 feet by 875 feet—smaller than today’s Temple Mount
  3. Ezekiel 45:4 This area is a band extending across the top 40% of the special area for the Lord.
  4. Ezekiel 45:5 The translation follows the Greek text. The Hebrew reads they will have as their possession twenty rooms.
  5. Ezekiel 45:5 This area covers the 40% of the special area that lies south of the area for the priests and the temple.
  6. Ezekiel 45:6 About 1.6 miles by 8.3 miles
  7. Ezekiel 45:6 Along the south side
  8. Ezekiel 45:10 An ephah is a measure of volume used for solids. A bath is a measure of volume for liquids. In this section, since ancient measurements are compared to other ancient measurements, the ancient measurements are retained rather than converting to modern measurements, which is the EHV’s usual practice. The value of many of these measurements is uncertain. An ephah is equal to about 20 quarts or 2⁄3 of a bushel. A bath is about 6 gallons. A homer is 10 ephahs or 10 baths, that is, 6 bushels or 60 gallons. A hin is about 1⁄6 of a bath, that is, 1 gallon. A shekel is about 4⁄10 ounce. A mina is about 1½ pounds or 24 ounces.
  9. Ezekiel 45:12 It is not apparent why such an unusual method is used to obtain the weight 60 shekels.
  10. Ezekiel 45:13 About 1.6%
  11. Ezekiel 45:14 About 1%